Search results
•. He refers to ruling by both air power and sea power. When he's talking about their ability to rule the planet he's not just talking about their ability to defend it against outside attack, he's talking about how they maintain their control over the Houses Minor and other planet-bound classes.
- Invent Characters to Serve The Plot
- Set Up A Conversation Between An Expert and A Layperson
- Set Up A Conversation Between Two Experts
- Educate Yourself, Then Teach It to Your Readers
- Use Real Science to Persuade Readers
- Summarize Difficult-To-Understand Material
- Dump Information After A Character Introduction
- Writing Where You Hang Your Hat
- Write About Your Passions and The Reader Will Be Fascinated
- Use The Presentation Format to Deliver Exposition
The story’s protagonist, psychologist Dr. Norman Johnson, is brought to a Navy ship in the South Pacific to investigate a mysterious vessel, suspected of being a spaceship, found a thousand feet below the ocean’s surface. Norman specializes in anxiety disorders and was previously asked by the US government to write a report on how the public might ...
In order to deliver technical information in simple terms, Crichton sets up conversations between experts and people who know little about the topics of conversation. For example, the story’s mathematician asks Norman if he knows about the Drake equation. As a psychologist, Norman likely wouldn’t know, but the narrator claims that he does. “It was ...
Crichton delivers a great deal of scientific information via dialogue between well-educated, scientifically inclined characters. Early in the book, the characters become convinced that the vessel on the ocean floor is extraterrestrial. Crichton dumps information about a theory known as “The unique hypothesis.” “We’ve shot the ‘unique hypothesis’ to...
It’s practically a law in science writing that if you don’t understand the material yourself, neither will the reader. When authors don’t understand their subject matter, it’s reflected in the writing. It’s obvious that Crichton goes to great lengths to understand his material. Crichton educated himself on these subjects and then teaches them to th...
Crichton’s use of specific facts from scientific literature gives his work credibility and authority, which helps the reader overcome their natural skepticism and keeps them engaged with the story. In Sphere, Crichton’s writing is dense with concrete technical information. For example, he describes a boat “laying a new fiber-optics cable” with a “c...
Crichton often delivers an easy-to-understand summary paragraph after hard-to-understand material. In Sphere, the narrator explains a series of studies Norman conducted to study anxiety within groups. After almost two pages of exposition, the narrator sums up what’s been said in lay terms: “If you were trapped in an elevator, it was better to be wi...
Crichton effectively delivers scientific information after a character introduction. For example, after Crichton introduces the mathematician, Harry Adams, he dives into theory about how humans might communicate with extraterrestrials. “Adams appeared even younger than his thirty years; he was clearly the youngest member of the group—and arguably t...
Writers should write what they know, right? Crichton was a Harvard-trained medical doctor, so the science-based thriller was a natural genre for him. He was comfortable with the material, and his connection with the language of science gave his writing plausibility and authority. (Originality isn't everything.) In one scene in Sphere, Norman underg...
Crichton clearly derived pleasure from building stories around high-concept premises that involved cutting-edge science. The reader is interested because Crichton is passionate. For example, in Sphere, three characters walk along the ocean floor, a thousand feet below the surface, and they come upon a sea snake. The marine biologist says the snake ...
Crichton delivers a lot of science via presentations. In all his books, scientists explain their field or a discovery through a lecture, speech, usually during a meeting or conference. The reader understands the presentation ritual and can thus tolerate the information dump. In Sphere, a character explains Dalton’s law to a group of scientists. Gra...
in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by jules verne, the power source for the nautilus submarine is vaguely attributed to salt water. In the alien "V" tv series (i think that's what its called) the power source for the aliens ships is blue energy.
Sep 28, 2023 · Given how little we know about our own ocean, oceanic environments, both real and imagined alike, offer a sense of mystery that lends itself rather perfectly to science fiction. In our most recent poll in the Discover Sci-Fi Facebook group we asked for your favorite ocean-based sci-fi books; among them were some stellar examples well worth ...
Oct 29, 2019 · One curious feature of the Nautilus is its power supply: Electricity. It’s worth pointing out that in 1869 thermodynamics was still young – only 25 years after James Joule’s famous experiments on heat and work.
The following is a collection of science fiction novels, comic books, films, television series and video games that take place significantly or partially underwater.
Mar 15, 2012 · Ten Inventions Inspired by Science Fiction. The innovators behind objects like the cellphone or the helicopter took inspiration from works like “Star Trek” and War of the Worlds
